Parents just don't understand

The role of parental control in western and east Asian countries

Many parents like to meddle in their children's lives. Sometimes this can be beneficial, if the meddling is in the form of parental guidance or setting rules. However, numerous studies have found that in Western countries, when parents are very controlling and dominating over their children, the children suffer psychologically. It has also been suggested that this effect may not be as strong in East Asian countries — researchers have posited that certain aspects of East Asian culture may make children more accepting of their parents' intrusive behavior. In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologists Eva Pomerantz from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and Qian Wang of The Chinese University of Hong Kong review evidence comparing the effects of parental control in the United States and China.

Much of the research examining the effects of parental control has been guided by the idea that too much may interfere with a child's psychological development by making them feel as though they don't have any control over their lives. This outcome may be particularly pronounced in the West, where autonomy and independence are emphasized.

Longitudinal studies have indicated that parental control in both Western and East Asian countries can have similar results on children from those regions. For example, as children are entering adolescence, the more parents make decisions for them regarding personal issues, the more the child's emotional suffering will be affected two years later — the size of this effect was similar in the United States and China.